Technical Abstract:
Campylobacter often colonize the intestinal tract of commercial broilers. Culturing intestines is the most sensitive means of recovering the organism from birds. However, there are times when it is not practical to sacrifice the animal. Fecal samples are a non-destructive sample which can be used to determine if a bird is colonized by this human pathogen. Fresh droppings often contain enough numbers of viable cells for Campylobacter t be detected by direct plating. When fresh droppings are not readily available older, drier samples may have to be used. Given this bacteria's sensitivity to dryness and oxygen, enrichment could prove useful for recovery from older or lower moisture samples. Fecal samples were collected from individually caged broiler breeder roosters. Individual Slurries were directly plated onto Campy-cefex agar and enriched in 5 ml of Bolton broth. Enriched samples were plated onto Campy-cefex agar. Campylobacter positive fecal samples were detected in 14/30 (47%), 9/30 (30%), 21/41 (51%), and 22/40 (55%) by direct plating. Enrichment increased Campylobacter recovery for each of the four repetitions (60%, 40%, 63%, 75%). Each method (direct plating or enrichment) detected positives that the other one missed which increased recovery rate to 63%, 67%, 77%, and 85%, respectively. Detection of Campylobacter spp. from older, drier fecal droppings was optimized by using both direct plating and enrichment.